Do you guys have backup GPUs?

[_roman_]

Missing an option for CPU with a GPU.

that's why i wrote cpu wiht gpu inside. For gaming the ryzen 7600x as cpu and gpu is kinda useless in whqd. Encased struggled a lot - although it looks kinda not demanding.
the older nivida 960 gtx which I bought and sold early 2023 was not that impressive. I would not keep old gpus if you do not have to. My previous am4 platform did not have a cpu with integrated graphics. One of the good points that most am5 processors have now integrated graphics. I used it for some months. For desktop usage quite enough. Regardless windows 11 pro or gnu gentoo linux.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

CPU has a IGP, and i have a 4850

 

[BlaezaLite]

IGpu, 1660 super and RX470.

 

[GerKNG]

For all eras up to the 3080.

 

[DirtyDingusMcgee]

I am fortunate to have my choice of other laptops or desktops.

 

[meatwar]

For sure... always had and even worse since this price escalation started, i keep old cards for all close family members possible fails, we are not members of a wealthy family and a life of well-being is a priority.
When "things" were at reasonable price and never heard "complaints" or "lack of profit" of these industry capitalists... i could afford some, currently still working but not in use of course, like:
EN8600GT OC GEAR HTDP 256M
EN8800ULTRA G HTDP 768M
STRIKER-GTX760-P-4GD5
MARS760-4GD5
ROG-POSEIDON-GTX780-P-3GD5

This was when a top tier motherboard was around 1500€ to 300...not 800 and so on... i still keep my old main Z77, ROG M5F running once in a while
and was only 13yrs ago...

 

[Bomby569]

i have a laptop, and a spare cpu or gpu for an emergency is easy to find used

 

[JIWIL]

My old card goes into the sim rig (currently 2080ti & 8600k).

I've also been using dGPU's since the 90's and have yet to witness a death in the family. TIM starts to lose efficiency and fans begin the noises, but yet to see one just stop working (knock on wood).

 

[Chomiq]

I'm still holding to my 1060 6G just in case anything goes bad.

 

[QuietBob]

I've got three systems at hand, of varying age, and each of them can game within reason. Also multiple old cards for my retro projects. In a pinch, something as antiquated as the baseline 2007 Radeon HD2400 256MB DDR2 can be used as a display adapter, still. It even accelerates AVC/H.264 video.

But honestly, I don't quite get the concept of keeping a backup card specifically for modern AAA gaming. You'd literally need two high-end cards. Else when your current card fails -- just buy another one. Lower your expectations if you can't afford the same tier again. An RX7600 or RTX4060 will happily run any current game in 1080p on medium.

 

[AusWolf]

An RX7600 or RTX4060 will happily run any current game in 1080p on medium.

Exactly. One of my spares is a 7600. I don't keep it for modern AAA games, though. More like 2015-era games that still can't be played on my 7800X3D's iGPU, but run well on any modern low-end card.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Yes. Have a couple handfuls of cards.

Mostly for the test bench, for actually benchmarking and submitting at hwbot.

Right now, backup card, if you want to call it that, is installed right now. RTX 4060.

 

[taka]

Some older cards not used anymore. A GTX1060 and a RTX2060. The rest of older cards i gifted or sold in time.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I have a number of PCs. Son, wife, myself.
rtx 3060 12GB
RX 7800XT
RX 6800
RX 7900XTX
ARC B580

And I have a few old cards that were all given to me at some point - GTX 660 1GB- HD 7770 1GB - GT 1030 4GB DDR4. Everything else I've sold on.

 

[Crazybc]

Right now I have a GTX 970 as back up An old card for sure but I do plant to rectify that this year with a better card then the 4070 Ti super but its way too early in the year AMD and Nvidia both have cards coming out still Prices are way way up so I may even wait for a 5080 refresh and see if I want to spend that stupid amount of cash on one.

 

[chrcoluk]

I have my 3080 still, but this is mostly down to me being too lazy to sell it.

 

[DaemonForce]

I've been going back to this 580 the entire time.
Can't obsolete it, can't sunset it with anything.
I've had multiple 7900XTs in here and no POST.
Not enough power/code/other to get things running.
I've considered putting a 4070Ti in here just as well.
Now the market makes zero hope for options. Again.
Another year wasted.

 

[Tatty_Two]

I have a RTX2060 Super 8GB that has only seen a year of use that I replaced 3 years ago sat in it's box, I kept it as I currently have a KF Intel CPU so no integrated graphics but I might sell it eventually when I do a full system upgrade this summer.

 

[Zectyr_Strae]

I do, in fact I'm using it right now. It's a dinky lil' GTX 1650 4GB, taken from my father's system when he upgraded to an RTX 3060 12GB.
I'm using it bc:
1. 5800X3D, no iGPU, better than nothing.
2. Sold my RTX 3080 Ti before the value dropped any lower.
3. Waiting for a 5090 restock. And I was wondering how far I could OC a GPU running purely off slot power (Not by much lol).

 

[QuietBob]

games that still can't be played on my 7800X3D's iGPU, but run well on any modern low-end card.

Recently I've been gaming only on my 13 year old FX system, with an HD7970 underclocked to 50%. I play various indie titles in 1440p and yet the GPU is mostly underutilized.

Heck, I'm playing one such game on a 2008 laptop with an 8200M G. That's a bottom rung GeForce 8 series mGPU with 256MB shared memory and a whopping 19 GFLOPS of powa!

IMO every card has a place if you set your expectations accordingly.

 

[R-T-B]

What‘s the worse possible outcome for you if your card fails?

One of my coworkers workstations is suddenly slower at 3D.

To be clear, I own my business so this is legit. Not ideal, but legit.

 

[mtosev]

I have a backup rtx 2080 Super.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

In my sig I have my Steambox which houses my old 980Ti, which is still a solid fallback option at 1080P.

I also have a "gaming laptop" that sports a GTX 1050 4GB, in the the absolute worst case scenario I can fall all the way back to that.

I have a huge stack of old GPUs just "around". HD7950, GTX460, HD4850 etc etc etc but I'd just go buy a new GPU before leaning on those relics.

 

[LabRat 891]

I try to have a 'somewhat competent' spare GPU in an off-use rig, or packed up on a shelf. (esp. on non-APU AM4, that lacks an IGP)


Now, that I have a 7900XTX, my GRE is 'backup'.
-with the WX9100/MI25 as secondary option if the GRE is wrapped up in an in-use build.

When I was on the RX 7900 GRE, it was a WX9100/MI25
When I was on the WX9100/MI25, it was an RX 6500 XT
When I was on the Vega 64, it was an RX 580X
When I was on the RX 580X, it was either a GTX 970 or a R9 290X...

I've never really gone out of my way to buy a spare GPU, but... the RX 6500 XT effectively was that.
(it's also become 'The Spare GPU' in my house. If my housemate needs a known good card, he borrows it too.)

 

[Lew Zealand]

Um. Look, I like affordable GPUs ok?

"Backups" not in primary gaming PCs listed to the side.

GTX 1050 Ti
GTX 1080
RTX 2060 Super
RTX 3050-6GB (2x)
RTX 3070
RX 550
RX 580 8GB
RX 5600 XT (2x)
RX 6400
RX 6600 XT
RX 6700 XT
RX 6800 XT
RX 7700 XT
RX 780m (in Radeon 7840HX APU)

And a small passel of lower end ones.

RIP my original GPU: GTX 1060 6GB, 7 years constant use in 4 different rigs before it died.

Edit: lol I forgot one.